Happy Birthday Dolly

Today is the birthday of Dolly Parton (books by this author), born in Sevier County, Tennessee (1946). She was one of 12 kids, born and raised in a little cabin in the Smoky Mountains. She grew up "dirt poor," in her words, and her father paid the doctor who delivered Dolly with a bag of oatmeal. One day, when she was about eight or nine years old, her ambition kicked in. "I didn't hear a voice, but it was a knowing that came to me," she remembered, and it said, "Run. Run until I tell you to stop." She first started performing professionally when she was ten and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry when she was 13. The day after she graduated from high school she went off to Nashville. She had her first number one hit with "Joshua" in 1971.

Parton has never forgotten the poor people in the region where she grew up. Her theme park, Dollywood, is now the largest employer in Sevier County. She formed the Imagination Library which sends a free book every month to every kid under the age of five. She's donated money to hospitals and provided schools with much-needed technology. And after a wildfire devastated the region in late 2016 she hosted a telethon that raised nine million dollars which she used to financially support families who lost their homes in the fire. The My People fund will give each family a thousand dollars a month for the next six months.

Dolly Parton has penned thousands of songs, an autobiography in 2021, as well as the children's book Coat of Many Colors (2019). Writer's Almanac